Udall introduces new ‘Good Samaritan’ water clean-up legislation

Colorado Independent

By Katie Redding

Calling past opposition a “spirited debate in the environmental community about the best way forward,” Udall pointed to two environmental groups who have already agreed to support the new bill: Trout Unlimited and Earthworks. Trout Unlimited Chief Operating Officer Chris Wood released a statement in support of the bill, pointing to EPA data indicating that abandoned hardrock mines contaminate 40 percent of Western streams.

http://coloradoindependent.com/40122/udall-introduces-new-good-samaritan-water-clean-up-legislation

Udall Sponsors Plan To Clean Up Old Mines

CBS4Denver

By Judith Kohler, AP Writer

Chris Wood, Trout Unlimited's chief operating officer, said in a prepared statement that cleaning up abandoned mines "is one of the single most important, least addressed environmental challenges in the nation." Wood said Trout Unlimited is cleaning up fisheries and water affected by abandoned mines in Utah, Idaho, Montana, Colorado and Nevada.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has had to negotiate deals and issue administrative orders to protect the conservation group from lawsuits.

http://cbs4denver.com/local/Senator.sponsors.bill.2.1248421.html

Commissioners OK storm-water changes

by Jason GonzalesHerald Staff Writer

Ty Churchwell, backcountry coordinator for Trout Unlimited, spoke during the public hearing and said the city is doing a great job keeping the Animas River clean.

"We had some good storm-water rules in effect, and this just steps things up a hair," he said.

http://durangoherald.com/sections/News/2009/07/29/Commissioners_OK_stormwater_changes/

Outdoor groups back expanded Clean Water Act

By GARY HARMON/The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel Monday, May 25, 2009

Several sporting and conservation groups put a high priority on winning approval of the Clean Water Restoration Act.

Trout Unlimited, Ducks Unlimited, the Teddy Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and the National Wildlife Federation all list the measure, S 787 by Russ Feingold, D-Wis., as a major issue.

Opponents say the bill is prelude to a federal government overreach.

The bill would expand federal control to all the waters of the United States: interstate waters, intrastate lakes, rivers, streams, wetlands, mud flats, sand flats, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, playas and natural ponds, as well as tributaries to those waters.

Proponents of the measure say it would restore protections included in the 1972 Clean Water Act, which have since been torn down by court rulings.

The Trout Unlimited Web site said the act “would protect 20 million acres of wetlands and 2 million miles of rivers and streams that have lost protection in recent years because of misguided court rulings.”

http://www.gjsentinel.com/hp/content/news/stories/2009/05/25/052609_2A_Clean_Water_folo.html

Clean Water Restoration Act safeguards our rivers

Gary Harmon’s article on the 2009 Clean Water Restoration Act quotes Sen. Michael Bennet as saying that the legislation “could block access to waters for sportsmen and fishermen.” With all due respect, the senator’s spokesperson has it exactly backwards. The CWRA would have absolutely no effect on the ability of hunters and anglers to access Colorado’s waters — but it would ensure that when they visit Colorado’s rivers and streams, they find clean, fishable waters that have been protected from pollutants and waste. Most hunter and angler groups, including Trout Unlimited, Ducks Unlimited and the National Wildlife Federation, support the CWRA for a simple reason: It protects streams and wetlands that are critical habitat for fish and wildlife. Far from being a federal power grab, CWRA would simply restore the protection that the Clean Water Act provided for 25 years before misguided court rulings declared open season on wetlands and waterways.  In Colorado, 75 percent of our streams – 76,000 miles worth – are now at risk.  Field and Stream magazine recently called passage of the CWRA a top priority for hunters and anglers, because it protects “temporary and isolated wetlands, among the most important habitats for waterfowl and a host of other wildlife.”

If Colorado’s senators wish to defend the interests of sportsmen and women, they will support the Clean Water Restoration Act and ensure that our rivers and wetlands are safeguarded for future generations.

DAVID NICKUM, Executive Director Colorado Trout Unlimited Arvada

http://community.gjsentinel.com/2009/05/21/clean-water-restoration-act-safeguards-our-rivers/

Western Slope taking a dim view of exports

By CHRIS WOODKATHE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

BASALT - While the Arkansas River basin celebrates its supplementary supply of water now being imported in sheets, the basin where that water chiefly comes from is raising concerns about its own water supply.

Water users in the Roaring Fork basin staged a summit of sorts Tuesday to consider the state of their watershed, an aspen-leaf shaped area of 1,453 square miles that, coincidentally, has Aspen at its heart.

Those who spoke at the meeting emphasized that leaving water in the river for recreational purposes is an important benefit to the Western Slope.

“We have to change the mindset we have in Colorado that water left in the river is a waste,” said Ken Neubecker, president of Colorado Trout Unlimited.

http://www.chieftain.com/articles/2009/05/13/news/local/doc4a0a598657d15540868905.txt

Sportsmen Urge USDA Intervention in Colorado Roadless Plan

From Fly Rod & Reel Online:

“To favorably resolve the Colorado rule, its problems must be addressed so that roadless area characteristics are conserved at a level comparable to the national roadless rule,” said David Nickum, executive director of Colorado TU. “Our groups want to conserve roadless values in the places where Americans hunt and fish – and ensure that our backcountry traditions are upheld for future generations to experience and enjoy.”

http://www.flyrodreel.com/node/12132

Avoiding boom-bust cycle requires protecting our natural resources

Grand Junction Sentinel Friday, April 10, 2009

Guest column from Tom Burke, former chairman of the Colorado Wildlife Commission and Ken Neubecker, president of Colorado Trout Unlimited.

http://www.gjsentinel.com/opin/content/news/opinion/stories/2009/04/10/041209_wildlife_column.html

Congress passes wilderness bill; 2 West Slope canyons protected

By DENNIS WEBB/The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Years of work by western Coloradans finally paid off Wednesday when new protections for the Dominguez Canyon area cleared Congress.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 285-140 in favor of the sweeping Omnibus Public Lands Bill. It now heads to the desk of President Barack Obama, who is expected to sign it.

It includes creation of the 210,000-acre Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area on the Uncompahgre Plateau. The area will include the 60,000-acre Dominguez Canyon Wilderness.

The measure also creates nearly 250,000 acres of wilderness within Rocky Mountain National Park.

The wilderness designations are the first in the state since 2002.

Chris Hunt of Trout Unlimited said 26 million acres nationally have conservation area status. The omnibus bill gives them permanent protection under law, rather than protection by order of presidential administrations, which can be reversed, Hunt said.

http://www.gjsentinel.com/hp/content/news/stories/2009/03/25/032609_1a_Dominguez_Escalante.html

Former energy worker lends support to rules

By DENNIS WEBB/The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Former Grand Junction resident Jim Ives has worked in Alaska’s oil fields and on the former Colony oil shale project near Parachute.

In 1997-98 he served as executive director of the Rocky Mountain Oil & Gas Association, the predecessor of the Colorado Petroleum Association.

Today, he’s lending what might seem to be an unlikely voice on behalf of Colorado’s new oil and gas rules, which have been largely criticized by the industry as being costly and burdensome.

“I think basically the regulations represent a balance that is both socially responsible as well as commercially viable,” Ives said in an interview.

He conceded the rules — scheduled to take effect this spring if approved by the state Legislature — do add some expense. But he called them “a necessary cost of doing business.”

The Centennial resident, 61, is retired and active with Trout Unlimited. Trout Unlimited supports the new rules, which aim partly to protect fish and other wildlife habitat. Ives cites his industry background in expressing his belief that oil and gas companies can comply with what he considers to be flexible, fair and balanced rules.

http://www.gjsentinel.com/hp/content/news/stories/2009/03/14/031509_3aenergyguy_backs_rules.html